Mr. Speaker, sadly, the truth hurts. Delaying even a day is an $80 million bill to the Canadian public and they are preventing the Teamsters, the people that they say they march shoulder to shoulder with, from returning to work. It is a sad, sad day. It is a calculated move by the Liberals. It is irresponsible and it is arrogant.

Mr. Speaker, the victims of the contamination in Shannon have been seeking justice for 10 years now. The Department of National Defence and Environment Canada knew that the water in Shannon was contaminated with TCE but they still allowed people to be poisoned.

We are talking about people who are now suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses as a result of this. The people of Shannon deserve better.

For once, will the Minister of Veterans Affairs stand up for the people in the Quebec City region and for veterans who are victims of the contamination, or is he going to once again let the Prime Minister's Office tell him what to do?

Mr. Speaker, I have done more for the Quebec City area, and I invite the members for the Quebec City area to continue to work as my predecessors did. We are proud to be Conservative members from Quebec and we will continue to work for Quebec.

Every time an independent, arm's-length expert raises concerns with the Conservative government's reckless agenda, such as the Auditor General, the Parliamentary Budget Officer and now the environment commissioner, those experts must be wrong and the Conservative government must be right.

The Conservatives may be content to drink their own bathwater, but to ask Canadians to do the same thing is reprehensible and wrong.

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago I remarked that the environment commissioner's greenhouse gas inventory numbers were out of date. I said that he was under-informed on the federal contaminated sites program. His office has since come back and as much as admitted that fact and suggested that it would like new information to update and do a supplementary report.

With regard to the numbers he offered yesterday to the committee regarding his estimate of the number of federal assessments under the CEAA 2012, his numbers were wrong.

Mr. Speaker, keeping our kids active and involved in sports leads to healthier, happier lifestyles. That is why our government is working hard to provide families and children with opportunities to take part in physical activity.

We have upgraded the children's fitness tax credit and continue to work with partners like Participaction and Le Grand défi and the provinces and territories to ensure young Canadians stay active and healthy.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister could not even answer if he was worried about childhood activity. Once again, he could not answer if he agreed with the report. Now he cannot even say clearly if he even read the report. The minister has fumbled his portfolio.

Childhood obesity rates are rising. It is important for Canadian families to get kids moving. The minister thinks the Conservative approach is working despite all the evidence that the problem is getting worse.

Will the government pledge to do more than exercise its talking points to get Canadian families and children active?

Mr. Speaker, under our government, working with Canadian Tire Jumpstart, we have helped nearly 400,000 kids to get involved in sports if they wish to be involved. That is why our government is working hard to provide families and children with the opportunity to take part in physical activity.

We have created the children's fitness tax credit and continue to work with parties like Participaction, which was cancelled by the previous government, Le Grand défi and the provinces and territories to ensure young Canadians stay active and healthy.

Mr. Speaker, in an unprecedented move, four former fisheries ministers have criticized the Prime Minister in an open letter stating:

We find it troubling that the government is proposing to amend the Fisheries Act via omnibus budget legislation in a manner that we believe will inevitably reduce and weaken the habitat protection provisions.

Is the government really so incompetent that it cannot find any way to protect farmers without gutting the Fisheries Act?

Keith AshfieldConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway

Mr. Speaker, there have been no substantive changes to the Fisheries Act since 1977. This is 2012.

I respect the individuals who made the comments, but I believe that what we have proposed would strengthen our habitat rules. We are focusing on recreational, aboriginal and commercial fisheries. The rules that we are putting in place will actually strengthen many areas and provide a clearer answer to Canadians as to what they can do in and around waterways.

Mr. Speaker, Canada's capacity to deal with a major oil spill in Atlantic Canada or the Beaufort Sea is being decimated by the government. Conservatives are curtailing the work of a noted research centre at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. They are phasing out research on the biological effects of oil and gas. Worse still, they have put world-class oil spill expert Ken Lee on notice that his job is in jeopardy, if one can imagine.

Why is the government being so reckless when it comes to protecting our coastal zones?

Keith AshfieldConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, our government will continue to provide advice on the effects of contaminants. That is why we are establishing a national advisory group that will provide advice on priority issues and will manage a research fund.

Through this new advisory group, the department will continue to provide science advice on contaminants and will provide funding to universities and other facilities to do the research.

Mr. Speaker, in October last year the Minister of Public Works and Government Services , with much fanfare, announced a $1 billion contract to upgrade the Canadian army's fleet of LAV III combat vehicles. The General Dynamics Land Systems Edmonton plant was to create 110 secure, highly skilled jobs for five years.

I have been advised that only six months later, these workers are already being laid off. Can the Minister of Public Works and Government Services confirm if these promised jobs are being cut?

Rona AmbroseConservativeMinister of Public Works and Government Services and Minister for Status of Women

Mr. Speaker, as I said, this particular contract was awarded to a company that, while it is an American company, has plants here in Canada and provides thousands of jobs to Canadians across Canada.

This particular layoff is a private sector decision, but we are proud that we work closely with the security and defence industy, which employs 90,000 Canadians across the country, to develop high-skill jobs.

Mr. Speaker, last evening in the House of Commons, NDP MPs, many of them from British Columbia, deliberately ran out the clock on debate rather than support the effort to send Bill C-311 to the other place.

In doing so, the NDP has forced a second hour of debate that could potentially not occur again until late October. Given that wine agri-tourism season runs from now until early October, these unreasonable delaying tactics will in turn delay our Canadian wine industry from implementing planned expansions that create jobs and support our local economy.

Does the government recognize the need for this important legislation?

We are truly disappointed in the NDP members for playing silly political games and needlessly delaying passage of a bill that they claim to support. They tell the wine industry one thing, and then their actions in the House display something else. They are clearly not equipped to govern.

Mr. Speaker, Vancouver city council passed a motion demanding a reversal of the closure of the Kitsilano Coast Guard base, which downloads a huge financial and safety cost to the city with no consultation.

Retired Coast Guard Dave Howell, who responded to over 30,000 incidents, calls it “incompetent and borderline criminal. I get a knot in my stomach and want to throw up”.

Kitsilano base serves Canada's busiest port, with over 350 rescues a year. A new hovercraft will not meet that need.

Keith AshfieldConservativeMinister of Fisheries and Oceans and Minister for the Atlantic Gateway

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated before, the safety of mariners is our primary concern. We are going to strengthen our relationships with our partners on water search and rescues, partners such as the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue, a volunteer group. We are very proud to have these people. They do fine, incredible work, unlike what we heard earlier today. Our volunteers do incredible work, and we are proud to work with them and proud to support them and help them in their work with us.

Mr. Speaker, the RADARSAT Constellation program is at risk. The recent Conservative budget does not provide a single penny to build the satellites, despite years of design and development efforts. The satellites are designed to assist with marine surveillance and to respond to catastrophes and climate change. But the Conservatives are giving up and abandoning the project, which will hurt the economy.

When will the Minister of Industry restore funding for RADARSAT? Will he explain himself before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology?